Input member with capacitive sensor

ABSTRACT

Input members with capacitive sensors are disclosed. In one embodiment of an electronic button, a first circuit is configured to capture a fingerprint of a user&#39;s finger placed on the electronic button, and a second circuit is configured to sense a force applied to the electronic button by the user&#39;s finger. The first circuit is further configured to provide temperature information to compensate for temperature sensitivities of the second circuit, and the second circuit is further configured to provide force information to the first circuit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/340,138, filed Jul. 24, 2014, and entitled “Input Member withCapacitive Sensor,” which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/858,606, filed Jul. 25, 2013,entitled “Input Member with Capacitive Sensor,” the contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference as if fully disclosed herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to electronic devices, and, morespecifically, to input members with capacitive sensors for use inelectronic devices.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices in use today typically require input from a user inorder to, for example, turn the electronic device on or complete someoperation. A variety of different mechanisms are in place for receivinginput from the user, such as a mechanical button. A mechanical buttontypically includes a body that is depressed by the user in order tocomplete an electrical circuit or otherwise trigger a reaction from thedevice. A restoring force then restores the button back to its original,non-depressed position, until the body is again depressed. Mechanicalbuttons such as these, however, typically consume a large amount ofspace in today's ever-slimming electronic devices. Furthermore,mechanical buttons such as these usually allow only for a binaryoutput—indicating that the button is either depressed or is notdepressed—and do not provide a smooth, continuous response. Such asmooth, continuous response is usually precluded by the structure ofmechanical buttons as the depressed button either completes anelectrical circuit or does not complete the circuit.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an electronic button can include a first circuitconfigured to capture a fingerprint of a user's finger placed on theelectronic button, and a second circuit configured to sense a forceapplied to the electronic button by the user's finger. In someembodiments, the first circuit is further configured to providetemperature information to compensate for temperature sensitivities ofthe second circuit, and the second circuit is further configured toprovide force information to the first circuit. The first circuit may beconfigured to determine when to sense a fingerprint based on the forceinformation provided by the second circuit. Additionally oralternatively, the first circuit can be configured to correct thecaptured fingerprint responsive to the sensed force being greater than apredefined acceptable force for fingerprint capture.

In other embodiments, the temperature information is provided to a thirdcircuit, the third circuit being configured to correct the sensed forceusing the temperature information.

Additionally or alternatively, a third circuit configured to combine anorientation of the captured fingerprint and the sensed force to providethree dimensional control of an electronic device.

In another aspect, a method of operating an electronic button includessensing a force applied to the electronic button using a force sensor,and correcting the sensed force using a temperature measurement. Afingerprint sensor is configured to trigger the force sensor to sensethe force responsive to human skin being detected by the fingerprintsensor. The force sensor may be further configured to trigger capturinga fingerprint responsive to sensing a predefined level of force appliedto the electronic button. In some embodiments, a user is notified whenthe sensed force exceeds a predefined level of force at which afingerprint can be properly captured.

In yet another aspect, an electronic device includes an electronicbutton, where the electronic button includes a rigid body defining abeam and at least one opening adjacent the beam, and a strain gaugecoupled to the rigid body. At least one portion of the strain gauge ismounted to the beam and sensitive to strain applied to a longitudinalaxis of the beam.

In some embodiments, the electronic device also includes a capacitivefingerprint sensor configured to provide a temperature measurement tocorrect measurements from the strain gauge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a front view of an electronic device including an electronicbutton;

FIG. 1B is a graph showing a continuous response that may be provided bythe electronic button of the electronic device of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of the electronic button of theelectronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIGS. 3A-3C are simplified flow diagrams illustrating several uses ofthe electronic button of the electronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the electronic button ofthe electronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the electronic button of the electronicdevice in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of the electronic button of theelectronic device in FIG. 1A, taken along line H-H of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 6B is another cross-sectional view of the electronic button of theelectronic device in FIG. 1A, taken along line V-V of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 7 is a simplified schematic view of a strain gauge of theelectronic button of the electronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 8 is a simplified schematic view of a capacitive fingerprint sensorof the electronic button of the electronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of a second embodiment of the electronicbutton of the electronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic button of the secondembodiment of the electronic button shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of a third embodiment of the electronicbutton of the electronic device in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of an electronicbutton; and

FIGS. 13A and 13B are perspective and cross-sectional views of a buttonassembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of an input member with a capacitive sensor, such as anelectronic button, are described herein. FIG. 1A is a front view of anelectronic device 100 including one or more electronic buttons 110. Theelectronic device 100 may be substantially any type of electronic orcomputing device, such as, but not limited to, a computer, a laptop, atablet, a smart phone, a digital camera, a printer, a scanner, a copier,or the like. The electronic device 100 may also include one or morecomponents typical of a computing or electronic device, such as, but notlimited to, one or more processors, memory components, networkinterfaces, displays, cameras, and so on.

The electronic button 110 allows a user to interact with the electronicdevice 100. For example, the electronic button 110 may turn theelectronic device 100 on, allow a user to perform some action such asreturning to a home screen, and the like. The electronic device 100 mayinclude more than one electronic button 110 in some embodiments, or mayinclude only a single electronic button 110. The electronic device 100may also include other input mechanisms, such as a mechanical button,multi-touch capacitive sensing display screen, one or more input/outputports, and so forth.

The electronic button 110 may in some embodiments be mechanicallydecoupled (e.g., isolated) from a housing 103 that surrounds the button110 on one or more sides of the electronic button 110, or be decoupledfrom another part of the body of the electronic device 100. In otherembodiments, the electronic button 110 may not be mechanically decoupledfrom the housing 103 or body (e.g., may be mechanically coupled to thehousing 103), or may only be partially decoupled from the housing 103 orbody. For example, in some embodiments, the housing 103 may be a glassplate, in which case one or more portions of the electronic button 110may be integral with the glass plate.

As mentioned above, although not explicitly shown in FIG. 1A, theelectronic device 100 may include a number of internal components, suchas one or more processors, a storage or memory component, aninput/output interface, a power source, and one or more sensors. The oneor more processors may control operation of the electronic device 100(including the electronic button 110 as described herein), and mayindividually or collectively be in communication with substantially allof the components of the electronic device 100. The processor may be anyelectronic device cable of processing, receiving, and/or transmittinginstructions. As described herein, the term “processor” is meant toencompass a single processor or processing unit, multiple processors, ormultiple processing units, or other suitably configured computingelement.

FIG. 1B illustrates a graph demonstrating the response of an electronicbutton, such as the electronic button 110 illustrated in FIG. 1A, thathas a continuous response to varying levels of force applied to thebutton. As used herein, continuous refers to a measurement that can takemore than two values—for example, a measurement of force that can takeone of five, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, or tens ofthousands of different values. The electronic button 110 in FIG. 1A mayhave a continuous response to applied forces, as compared with amechanical button, which may only be on or off.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of one embodiment of the electronicbutton 110 of the electronic device 100 in FIG. 1A. The electronicbutton 110 in FIG. 2 includes a first circuit 130 and a second circuit160. The first circuit 130 may be configured to capture a fingerprint ofa user's finger placed on the electronic button 110. The first circuit130 may include, for example, a capacitive fingerprint sensor. The firstcircuit 130 may also include one or more temperatures sensors embeddedwithin or positioned external to the first circuit.

The second circuit 160 may be configured to sense a force applied to theelectronic button 110 by the user's finger. The second circuit 160 mayinclude, for example, a strain gauge, a capacitive gap sensor, and soforth. In some embodiments, such as when the second circuit 160 is astrain gauge, the second circuit 160 may be susceptible to temperaturevariations such that the force measurements provided by the secondcircuit 160 depend not only on the displacement of the electronic button110, but also on the ambient temperature around the second circuit 160or on the temperature of the components of the second circuit 160themselves. The temperature of the components of the second circuit 160may change in some embodiments as a result of, for example, the heatfrom a user's finger and/or the heat from the first circuit 130operating, if the first and second circuits 130, 160 are positioned inproximity to one another.

In some embodiments, and as illustrated in FIG. 2, the first circuit 130may be configured to provide temperature information to compensate fortemperature sensitivities of the second circuit 160. This informationmay be used by the second circuit 160 to compensate for the temperaturedependency of the force measurements. In some examples, the temperatureinformation from the first circuit 130 may be provided to a thirdcircuit (not illustrated in FIG. 2). Such a third circuit may alsoreceive the raw force measurement from the second circuit 160, and maycorrect such raw force measurements using the temperature information.In other words, while the temperature information from the first circuit130 may in some examples be provided directly to the second circuit 160for the second circuit 160 itself to correct for the temperaturedependency of the force measurements, in other examples, the temperatureinformation from the first circuit 130 may be combined with the rawforce information from the second circuit 160 in a separate, thirdcircuit, such as a processor, to correct for the temperaturedistortions.

As also illustrated in FIG. 2, the second circuit 160 may be configuredto provide force information to the first circuit 130 in someembodiments. The force information from the second circuit 160 may befeedback to the first circuit 130 in order to better understand afingerprint captured by the first circuit 130. For example, if a userapplies a relatively large amount of force to the electronic button 110,the fingerprint captured by the first circuit 130 may be distorted, orotherwise different than if the user had applied a normal amount offorce. Similarly, if not enough force is used to press the electronicbutton 110, the ridges and valleys of the fingerprint may not beproperly captured by the fingerprint button 110. The first and secondcircuits 130, 160, optionally together with a third circuit (not shown),can thus work together to allow a shallower electronic button 110 to beused in an electronic device 100 in place of a conventional mechanicalbutton. The feedback between the first and second circuits 130, 160 ofthe electronic button 110 enables the cooperation of the first andsecond circuits 130, 160.

Turning now to FIGS. 3A through 3C, flowcharts are shown illustrating afew examples of how the electronic button 110 may be used in operation.

With reference to FIG. 3A, the electronic button 110 may in someexamples be configured to estimate an actual force applied to theelectronic button 110. Specifically, the force measurement 302 from thesecond circuit 160 may be combined with the temperature measurement 304from the first circuit 130 in order to provide an estimated force 308with which the electronic button 110 was depressed. Using the estimatedforce 308, the electronic button 110 may be able to correct afingerprint captured using the first circuit 130 if, for example, thesensed force 302 is greater than a predefined acceptable force forfingerprint capture, as also explained in more detail below.

In some embodiments, and still with reference to FIG. 3A, the electronicbutton 110 may be configured to trigger the second circuit 160 to sensethe force applied to the electronic button 110 responsive to human skin(e.g., a finger, palm, etc.) being detected by the first circuit 130. Inorder to conserve power, for example, the second circuit 160 may notcontinuously measure the force applied to the electronic button 110, butinstead may only activate the sensing circuitry of the second circuit160 if human skin or a finger is detected on the electronic button. Inanother embodiment, the second circuit 160 may continuously measure theforce applied to the electronic button 110, but may signal a “click” tothe electronic device 100 only in the event that a human finger or otherportion of human skin is detected on the electronic button 110. This mayreduce accidental activation of the electronic button 110, particularlywhen the electronic button 110 is not decoupled from one or more otherportions of the electronic device 100, but also when the electronicbutton is decoupled from one or more other portions of the electronicdevice 100. This may reduce the likelihood that the electronic button110 would signal a click activation if a pen in a user's pocketaccidentally depresses the button. In still other embodiments, however,the second circuit 160 may continuously measure the force applied to theelectronic button 110, and provide the same to the electronic device100, regardless of whether human skin or a human finger is detected bythe first circuit 130.

With reference to FIG. 3B, the electronic button 110 may in someexamples be configured to determine when to sense a fingerprint based onthe force information provided by the second circuit 160. Specifically,the force measurement 312 from the second circuit 160 may be combinedwith a finger detection indication 316 from the first circuit 130 toprovide an indication 318 that triggers the first circuit 130 to capturethe fingerprint of the user. In some examples, a temperature measurement314 from the first circuit 130 may optionally be used during thisprocess in order to, for example, correct the force measurement 312provided by the second circuit 160 for temperature distortions.

In one example, if the force measurement 312 from the second circuit160, as optionally corrected using the temperature measurement 314, iswithin a range of forces at which a fingerprint can be properlycaptured, the indication 316 may be provided to the first circuit 130 inorder to capture the fingerprint. If, on the other hand, the forcemeasurement 312 from the second circuit 160, as optionally correctedusing the temperature measurement 314, is below a predefined level offorce, the electronic button 110 may cause the electronic device 100 torequest that the user try again, pressing more firmly on the electronicbutton 110. If, however, the sensed force 312 from the second circuit160, as optionally corrected using the temperature measurement 314,exceeds a predefined level of force at which a fingerprint can beproperly captured, the electronic button 110 may cause the electronicdevice 100 to request that the user try again, pressing less firmly onthe electronic button 110.

In still other examples, the force measurements 312 may be used in othermanners. For example, the force measurements 312 may be monitored suchthat when the force applied to the electronic button 110 is relativelystable (e.g., is not rapidly varying), the indication 318 is given tocapture the fingerprint. Alternatively, the force measurement 312 may beused by the electronic button 1110 to compensate for the effect of toomuch or too little force being used to press the button 110—for example,if too much force is used, and the force measurement 312 reflects thisexcess, an algorithm may be applied to a fingerprint that is nonethelesscaptured by the first circuit 130 in order to compensate for thedistortions in the captured fingerprint caused by the excess force. If,for example, the excess force causes the ridges of a fingerprint to bemore spaced out and the valleys of the fingerprint to be wider, theforce measurement 312 representative of the force applied to theelectronic button 110 at that time may be used to adjust the width ofthe valleys and the spacing of the ridges.

In some embodiments, the force sensing accomplished by the secondcircuit 160 may consume less power and generate less heat than thefingerprint capturing of the first circuit 130, and thus it may be moreeconomical to measure the force applied to the electronic button 110 ata relatively high sample rate, and only capture a fingerprint when asufficient, but not excessive, force is applied to the electronic button110. The first circuit 130 may nonetheless operate in a limited fashion,for example it may obtain and provide the temperature measurement 314 inorder to adjust the force measurements 312 from the second circuit 1160during operation, without necessarily activating the components of thefirst circuit 130 that actually function to capture the fingerprint(e.g., the capacitive sensing aspects of the first circuit 130).

With reference to FIG. 3C, the electronic button 110 may in someexamples be configured to provide a 3-dimensional orientation of auser's finger that is used to depress the electronic button 110.Specifically, the force measurement 322 from the second circuit 160 maybe combined with a finger detection indication 326 from the firstcircuit 130 in order to provide the 3-dimensional orientation 328—e.g.,the first circuit 130 may provide vertical and horizontal orientation ofthe finger using the fingerprint ridges and valleys, while the secondcircuit 160 may provide the depth aspect of the 3-dimensionalorientation. The 3-dimensional orientation 328 provided by theelectronic button 110 may be used, for example, to control theelectronic device 100—such as controlling a character or other object ina game, or otherwise controlling the navigation within the electronicdevice 100.

With reference now to FIG. 4, an exploded view of one embodiment of anelectronic button 110 is shown. The electronic button 110 includes afirst circuit 130 and a second circuit 160, similar to those shown inFIG. 2 and described above.

The first circuit 130 includes a cylindrical member 132, which mayinclude sapphire, glass, and so forth. The cylindrical member 132 mayinclude a layer of ink 134 positioned on the bottom of the cylindricalmember 132. The first circuit 130 also includes a capacitive fingerprintsensor 138, which may be embodied in a silicon die with circuitry fordetecting and capturing a fingerprint, circuitry for sensing human skin,temperature sensors, and so forth.

The electronic button 110 also includes a second circuit 160, which mayinclude a strain gauge 162. The strain gauge 162 may generally define aT-shape, and may in some embodiments include four gauge components 164,165, 166, 167, as explained in more detail below. The four gaugecomponents 1164, 165, 166, 167 may together form a full-bridge, in orderto thermally and electrically match the strain gauge 162.

The electronic button also includes trim 112, which may generally have aring shape, and may be coupled between the first and second circuits130, 160. The trim 112 may be a rigid body (comprised, for example, ofstainless steel or another hard material), and may define a beam 116 andone or more openings 114, 115 adjacent the beam. As illustrated in FIG.4, the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 may be positioned on anopposite side of the trim 112 from the strain gauge 162, as described inmore detail below with reference to FIG. 6A, in order to provide thermalinsulation and/or electrical shielding between the strain gauge 1162 andthe capacitive fingerprint sensor 138.

The electronic button 110 may also include a flex circuit 118 configuredto be coupled to the first and second circuits 130, 160, and to routesignals from the first and second circuits 130, 160 to a processor orother portion of the electronic device 100.

As illustrated in 4, the electronic button 110 may be mechanicallydecoupled from a housing 103 surrounding the electronic button 110;however in other embodiments, one or more components of the electronicbutton 110 (e.g., cylindrical member 132) may be integral with thehousing 103 of the electronic device 100.

With reference to FIG. 5, which is a bottom view of the embodiment of anelectronic button 110 shown in FIG. 4, the strain gauge 162 of thesecond circuit 160 may be coupled to the rigid body of the trim 112.More specifically, in one example, an elongated trunk of the T-shapedstrain gauge 162 including NE and SE gauge components 164, 165 may bemounted to the beam 1116 of the trim 112. One or more of the NE, SEgauge components 164, 165 may be sensitive to strain applied to alongitudinal axis of the beam. In this example, NE gauge component 1164may be sensitive to strain applied to the longitudinal axis of the beam,whereas SE gauge component 165 may be sensitive to strain applied to thevertical axis of the beam. Due to their proximity to one another andtheir common location on the beam 116, the NE gauge component 164 andthe SE gauge component 165 may both be subject to similar temperaturevariations. Thus, the NE gauge component 164 is sensitive to strainapplied along the horizontal axis of the beam 116 and also totemperature variations, while the SE gauge component 165 is notsensitive to strain applied along the horizontal axis of the beam 116but is sensitive to temperature variations. Signals generated by the SEand NE gauge components 164, 165 can thus be combined in order toprovide a first level of temperature correction, however the temperaturesensors in the first circuit 130 can further be used to compensate forthe temperature sensitivities of the strain gauge 162.

Still with reference to FIG. 5, NW and SW gauge components 166, 167 ofthe strain gauge 162 may also be coupled to the rigid body of the trim112, but they may not be sensitive to displacement of the electronicbutton 110. Instead, the NW, SW gauge components 166, 167 may be used toelectrically match the NE, SE gauge components 164, 165.

As mentioned above, the trim 112 may include one or more openings 114,115, which may facilitate communication of signals between the straingauge 162 and the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138, and also may allowa single flex circuit 118 to be used to route signals from both thestrain gauge 162 and the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 to anotherlocation of the electronic device 100, such as a processor. Asillustrated for example in FIG. 5, a plurality of through silicon vias(TSVs) 120 of the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 may be positionednear one of the openings 115 in the trim 112, such that signals E, N, S,W from the strain gauge 162 may be provided to the capacitivefingerprint sensor 138 and also to the flex circuit 118. Signals fromthe capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 may also be provided to the straingauge 162 and/or to the flex circuit 118 through the one or moreopenings 114, 115, as shown in FIG. 5. In other words, the flex circuit118 may be coupled to the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 through theopening 115 of the trim 112 and also coupled to the strain gauge 162.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, one or more components of the strain gauge 162may be adjusted. For example, region 158 in FIG. 5 illustrates a region158 where one or more strain gauge 162 components can be laser trimmedin order to provide electrical matching between two or more portions ofthe strain gauge, in order for the strain gauge to properly function asa full bridge with good cancellation. The region 158 may be trimmedafter the strain gauge 162 is mounted to the trim 112 in some examples.

As also illustrated in FIG. 5, in some examples, the NW, SW gaugecomponents 1166, 167 may be interdigitated in order to increase thethermal and strain matching.

FIG. 6A illustrates a cross-sectional view of the electronic button 1110shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, taken along line H-H of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 6Billustrates a cross-sectional view of the electronic button 110 shown inFIGS. 4 and 5, taken along line V-V of FIG. 1A. With reference to bothFIGS. 6A and 6B, the cylindrical member 132 and ink layer 134 arecoupled to the trim 112 via adhesive 136. The ink layer 134 is alsocoupled to the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 through adhesive 140,and the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 is coupled to the trim 112through adhesive 142. The strain gauge 162 is coupled to the beam 116 ofthe trim 112 through adhesive 161. Also, flex circuit 118 is coupled toone or more TSVs of the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 throughadhesive 144, and trim 112 is moveable within housing 103 via shimmember 104.

As can be seen in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the trim 112 allows some separationbetween the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 and the strain gauge 162.Such separation may provide a thermal buffer and/or an electrostaticshield between the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 and the straingauge 162. The trim 112, however, provides stiffness, with the beam 116dissipating some of the pressure applied to the electronic button 110,and the openings 114, 115 in the trim facilitating communication ofsignals and measurements between the first and second circuits 130, 160.

FIG. 7 illustrates a full bridge, including all of the NE, SE, SW, NWcomponents 164, 165, 166, 167 of the strain gauge 162. The full bridgestrain gauge 162 provides many benefits, including helping eliminateerrors due to the flex circuit 118 and wire or trace bond connectionresistances. In other embodiments, however, a quarter or half bridgecould be used with a single or only two components of a strain gauge162, in which case the first circuit can still provide temperaturecorrection information in order to correct the temperature dependency ofthe measurements of force by the strain gauge 162.

FIG. 8 illustrates a top view of a capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 ofthe first circuit 130, with a plurality of different quadrants 139-A,139-B, 139-C, 139-D, 139-E, 139-F, 139-G, 139-H, 139-I. In someembodiments, each of the plurality of quadrants 139-A, 139-B, 139-C,139-D, 139-E, 139-F, 1139-G, 1139-H, 139-I includes one or moretemperatures sensors.

The layout of the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 may be such that itsvarious components are arranged in order to provide a substantiallyuniform temperature gradient of the capacitive fingerprint sensoradjacent the beam 116 of the trim 112. So, for example, relatively“cool” digital components of the capacitive fingerprint sensor 138 maybe positioned in quadrants 1139-F, 1139-G, 139-H, and 139-I so that thetemperature gradient along those quadrants is minimized. In anotherexample, the “warm” analog components of the capacitive fingerprintsensor 138 may be evenly distributed among quadrants 139-F, 139-G,139-H, and 139-I in order to reduce the temperature gradient therealong.

Minimizing the temperature gradient along the NE and SE components 164,165 of the strain gauge 162 may allow the SE component 165 to bettercancel out the thermal dependency of the NE component 164, because bothSE, NE components 164, 165 will be subjected to similar thermalconditions. If, on the other hand, quadrants 139-F and 139-G were muchwarmer or much cooler than quadrants 139-H, 139-I, the effectiveness ofthe thermal cancelation between the NE and SE components 164, 165 of thestrain gauge 162 may be reduced.

As mentioned above, and with reference still to the quadrants 139-A,139-B, 139-C, 139-D, 139-E, 139-F, 139-G, 139-H, 139-I illustrated inFIG. 8, one or more temperature sensors may be included in each of thequadrants 139-A, 139-B, 139-C, 139-D, 139-E, 139-F, 139-G, 139-H, 139-Iin order to, for example, measure and correct for any temperaturegradient that nonetheless exists in the capacitive fingerprint sensor138.

With reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, another embodiment of an electronicbutton 910 is shown. The electronic button 910 illustrated in FIGS. 9and 10 is similar to the electronic button 110 shown and describedabove, except that the strain gauge 962 is mounted directly to thecapacitive fingerprint sensor 938.

With reference to FIG. 11, another embodiment of an electronic button1110 is shown. The electronic button 1110 illustrated in FIG. 11 issimilar to the electronic button 110 shown and described above, exceptthat the second circuit 1160 (including the strain gauge, for example)is integrally included within a semiconductor die that also includescapacitive fingerprint sensor 1139. In this manner, a singlesemiconductor die can include circuitry for performing the functions ofboth the first and second circuits 130, 160 described above.

FIG. 112 illustrates another embodiment of an electronic button, with astacked die configuration. It should be appreciated that the embodimentshown in FIG. 12 is oriented such that the exterior surface of thebutton (or other input element) is at the bottom of the figure.

The sensor circuit 1201 is shown bonded to a control circuit 1203 viabond 1202, which may be an adhesive. The sensor circuit 1201 maylikewise be bonded to flex circuit 1208 by an adhesive or the like. Asalso shown, the sensor circuit may be positioned adjacent the button,which may be generally cylindrical in shape (although this shape is notnecessary).

Wire bonding 1206 connects the flex circuit 1208 to the control circuit1203, and the wire bonding 1206 is encapsulated by rigid encapsulant1210 and secondary compliant encapsulant 1212 to protect the wirebonding 1206. The wire bonding 1206 is seated underneath locally thinnedstiffener 1214 (with respect to the orientation shown in, and a secondflex circuit 1218 is positioned between stiffener 1214 and switch 1226.A complaint encapsulant may fill at least a portion of the space betweenthe stiffener 1214 and one or more of the flex 1208, encapsulant 1210,and control circuit 1203. The stiffener may be locally thinned to form acavity or depression in which the wire bond and/or rigid encapsulant maybe at least partially located.

FIG. 13A illustrates a button assembly embodiment, with switch 1326 andtrim 1330, and FIG. 13B is a corresponding cross-sectionalrepresentation taken along plane P13B in FIG. 13A. FIG. 13B illustratessensor circuit to flex circuit wire bonds at 1340 and further sensorcircuit to control circuit 1303 wire bonds at 1345. The sensor circuitto flex circuit wire bonds 1340 as disclosed in this embodiment carrysignals to the underside of the die, where the wires are bonded to theflex circuit 1308 inset from the die perimeter.

The foregoing description has broad application. For example, whileexamples disclosed herein may focus on a strain gauge type of forcesensing circuit, it should be appreciated that the concepts disclosedherein may equally apply to substantially any other type of forcesensing circuit with or without appropriate modifications as would beappreciated by one skilled in the art of input members for electronicdevices. Moreover, although certain examples have been described withreference to particular figures, it will be understood that otherembodiments are also within the scope of this disclosure and theappended claims.

As another example of an alternate embodiment, in some examples a forceconcentrator may be coupled between the capacitive fingerprint sensorand the strain gauge, and may translate motion of the fingerprint sensorinto deflection of the strain gauge, thereby indirectly causing strain.In this manner, strain can be applied in a localized area, which canallow for a very small strain gauge to be used, which may be moreaccurate and sensitive than a relatively larger strain gauge. This alsomay allow for thermal separation (e.g., air) between the capacitivefingerprint sensor and the strain gauge.

Accordingly, the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to beexemplary and is not intended to suggest that the scope of thedisclosure, including the claims, is limited to these examples.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating an electronic button,comprising: sensing, using a force sensor, a force applied to a surfaceof the electronic button; and correcting the sensed force using atemperature measurement; wherein a biometric sensor is configured totrigger the force sensor to sense the force responsive to human skinbeing detected by the biometric sensor.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the sensed force takes one of a plurality of values, therebyrepresenting a continuous measurement of force.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising: determining that the sensed force exceeds apredefined level of force; and triggering capture of a biometric by thebiometric sensor when the sensed force is determined to exceed thepredefined level of force.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:notifying a user when the sensed force exceeds the predefined level offorce.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: concentrating forceusing a force concentrator coupled between the biometric sensor and theforce sensor; and translating motion of the biometric sensor intodeflection of the force sensor using the force concentrator.
 6. Anelectronic button, comprising: a first circuit configured to sense aforce applied to a surface of the electronic button; a second circuitconfigured to capture a biometric on the surface of the electronicbutton; and a third circuit configured to combine an orientation of thecaptured biometric and the sensed force to provide three dimensionalcontrol of an electronic device.
 7. The electronic button of claim 6,wherein the second circuit is configured to capture the biometricresponsive to the sensed force being greater than a predefined force forbiometric capture.
 8. The electronic button of claim 6, wherein thefirst circuit comprises a strain gauge and the second circuit comprisesa capacitive biometric sensor.
 9. The electronic button of claim 6,wherein the electronic button is mechanically decoupled from a housingsurrounding the electronic button.
 10. The electronic button of claim 6,wherein the second circuit is mounted directly on the first circuit. 11.The electronic button of claim 6, wherein the second circuit isintegrally included within a semiconductor die that also includes thefirst circuit.
 12. A method of operating an electronic button,comprising: sensing, using a force sensor, a force applied to a surfaceof the electronic button; and capturing, using a biometric sensor, abiometric on the surface of the electronic button; and combining anorientation of the captured biometric and the sensed force to providethree dimensional control of an electronic device.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the biometric sensor is configured to trigger theforce sensor to sense the force responsive to human skin being detectedby the biometric sensor.
 14. The method of claim 12, further comprisingdetermining, by a processor of the electronic button, whether the sensedforce is within a range of forces at which the biometric can properly becaptured.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein: sensing the force occursover a period of time, resulting in two or more force values; and themethod further comprises determining, by a processor of the electronicbutton, whether the two or more force values indicate that the forceapplied to the surface of the electronic button is stable over theperiod of time.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein capturing thebiometric occurs responsive to determining that the two or more forcevalues indicate that the force applied to the surface of the electronicbutton is stable over the period of time.
 17. The method of claim 12,wherein the force sensor is further configured to trigger capturing abiometric responsive to sensing a predefined level of force applied tothe surface of the electronic button.
 18. The method of claim 12,further comprising adjusting, by a processor of the electronic button,the captured biometric based on the sensed force.
 19. The electronicdevice of claim 6, wherein the first circuit is further configured toprovide force information to the second circuit, and the second circuitis further configured to determine when to capture a biometric based onthe force information provided by the first circuit.
 20. The electronicdevice of claim 12, wherein the biometric sensor is configured tocapture the biometric responsive to sensing the force.